Stocks - Wall Street Rises as Weak Jobs Report Spurs Rate-Cut Hopes
Published Jun 07, 2019 09:42AM ET
Investing.com - Wall Street jumped on Friday after May’s weak jobs report increased speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.
The S&P 500 rose 20 points, or 0.7%, by 9:41 AM ET (13:41 GMT), while the Dow gained 181 points, or 0.7%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite surged 72 points, or 1%.
The U.S. economy created 75,000 jobs last month, much less than expected, while wage inflation eased, the Labor Department reported.
The data increases expectations that the Fed will cut rates as the job market peaks. Traders have already speculated that the central bank will cut rates due to trade tensions between the U.S. and China and economists have lowered growth forecasts around the globe.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated this week that the central bank would “act as appropriate to sustain the economic expansion."
The possibility of a rate cut in June rose to 33.3% from 20% earlier, while the expectation that rates will be lower in December is at more than 98%, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Among active stocks, Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) jumped 23% as its first earnings report since its IPO was better than expected. Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) was up 20.9% on upbeat sales in the first quarter, while Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) gained 10.8% after news that Elliott Management is acquiring the bookseller for $683 million, including debt.
Technology stocks were higher, with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) up 1.1%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) gaining 0.9% and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) rising 1%.
Elsewhere, financial stocks were down on the prospect of rate cuts, with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) falling 0.9% and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) slipping 0.5%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,346.65 a troy ounce, while crude jumped 1.2% to $53.22. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.4% to 96.630.
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Written By: Investing.com
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